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Sunday, January 17, 2016

This past week or so has been kind of rough around here. Bear had back surgery and so he's been having a hard time. Henry was so pathetically sick and had a fever that got up to 104. I had to take him to urgent care where we found he had bronchitis, and he's been on antibiotics since. Since we were all pretty haggard, after dinner one night Mimi decided that ice cream was in order. The kids hardly ever get treats like this so it was kind of a big deal. We told the boys they had to finish their dinner, and so Henry ate what he could right away. George didn't seem to grasp the concept, and kept crying for ice cream. We kept telling him he could get ice cream if he'd just eat his dinner, but it didn't process and he kept having a meltdown. Finally I sat him in his chair, showed him a cheese stick, and said "Do you want ice cream?" He wailed "yesssssss!" and I said "then EAT THIS." Somehow it all clicked... he immediately stopped crying and he shoved that entire cheese stick into his mouth as fast as he could. After we were done laughing then we told him he better chew the whole thing and not choke, and he finished it off in a matter of seconds. Ice cream for everyone!!!

Poor Henry has been coughing for over a week straight, but thankfully with the antibiotics he's been feeling better overall. A few days ago he had breakfast and I gave him his medicine. Of course right away he coughs and then says sadly "Mommy, it didn't work". I told him it takes some time to kick in, and he started coughing again. Then he looked up at me and said with all seriousness, "Mommy, there's a bunny trapped in my lungs." After laughing for a second, I asked, "there are bunnies stuck in your lungs?" He said "No mommy, just one bunny. It's trapped." It was sad but also sweet and hilarious at the same time. Poor kid. And poor little bunny ;)

Sunday, January 3, 2016

word of the year: authentic
last years word of the year was outgoing. and i think i did a pretty decent job. i'm quite an introvert but i've been able to be more and more outgoing throughout the years. now i can strike up a conversation with basically anyone. the purple hair helps i guess ;)

goals for the year:
-work out all my muscle groups every week, and start doing cardio or walking at least once every week (i hate cardio but i know i need it...ugh...)
-go to sleep before midnight, and wake up before my kids wake up (unless they occasionally wake up freakishly early. not cool.)
-buy an awesome house in a great neighborhood and not break the bank by doing so
-read at least 8 books (5 was my goal last year and I even surpassed that!)
-choose to be happy every morning when I wake up, and tell myself it's going to be an awesome day

Friday, October 9, 2015

Some of you may know that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormon aka LDS). I was born and raised in this religion, and have been a practicing member my whole life (with my modest share of "rebellions" of course). A few weeks back a friend posted a link to an op-ed that Kate Kelly wrote. This line particularly stood out to me:

I encourage Mormon women to ask themselves a similar question: does my participation in Mormonism spark joy?

This question was derived from the KonMari method, developed by Marie Kondo and detailed in her book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" (which, side note, I definitely recommend). Kondo instructs the reader to physically go through each item in your home and ask yourself if it sparks joy. If it does not, then you recognize and express gratitude that it has fulfilled its purpose in your life, and it can then be discarded.

When I thought about Kate Kelly's article more and more, it really started to resonate with me. I haven't had joy in my religion in a long time. There have been rare moments in the somewhat-recent past, but when I view the LDS church as a whole, there has been no joy-sparking in a very long time. I no longer have faith in my religion, and I have serious problems with the LDS church's history. In following with Kate Kelly's advice, based on Kondo's method, my participation in Mormonism no longer sparks joy and should therefore be discarded.

At first this concept seemed a bit harsh to me (even though I now realize this is where I've been headed for quite some time). But then I really started thinking through the idea of applying this method to my religion. And it all clicked... I can recognize the enormous contribution in my life that my religion has provided, and acknowledge that it was instrumental in shaping the human being I am today. I can be thankful that because of this religion I went to BYU, met the love of my life (cliche but true), and ultimately married him. I can appreciate that because of that fact alone, I have two beautiful children whom I love dearly. I can be grateful for all the wonderful friends I have made through this shared religion. I can acknowledge that a lot of blessings are in my life because of this religion. And now? I can accept that this religion played a major part in my life, and has fulfilled it's role of sparking joy. And since it no longer sparks joy, I can be grateful for it, and walk away.

Like other things in life, if something isn't sparking joy for you, it is [more than] appropriate to reevaluate your situation. As one of my friends told me after discussing this, not everything in your life has to spark joy; some things are just hard or annoying or boring, but they are necessary (like chores or earning a paycheck, for example). But I no longer want to be disingenuous in my religion, or keep trudging along just because I feel like I have to. And if there is anything in your life that feels like that, I would hope that you would take the time to examine your feelings, and trust that they are valid.

I do not feel bitter towards the LDS church. I don't hold negative feelings toward it. I can look back on my time in "mormonism" with decently fond memories. And now I can forge my own path. Discern my own beliefs. Be a good person and teach my children to be good people. And ultimately, live a fun and fulfilling life with my amazing family. ♥

Thursday, January 1, 2015

I've been thinking about my resolutions for the year. I'm sure they will evolve a bit throughout the year, but here are some things I want to work on in 2015:

+ stop yelling, and use more positive parenting techniques with the chilluns
+ use nap time to do at least one thing that qualifies as "me time"
+ read at least 5 books (This used to be nothing for me, I'd read like a billion books a year. But ever since having kids I've been pretty terrible at reading. Oops.)
+ take action on improving recycling in my city (since I slacked in 2014)
+ go on more "dates" with my main man
+ enroll Henry in swimming lessons
+ wake up every morning and decide to have a good and positive attitude
+ PLAY MORE!

On the resolution front, I like to make these yearly goals to have some direction and something to work for in my daily life. I feel like the past two years I have gained something from actively working on resolutions. But I also like this timely reminder from the Alison show:

I AM awesome, and I'm going to make sure I don't forget it ;) Happy New Year, lovers!

Monday, December 29, 2014

So I had a few resolutions for this past year that I wrote up and taped up in my medicine cabinet so I would see them every day. I did...ok... on them for the most part. haha.

2014 Resolutions:

-remember and plan for birthdaysI am really proud to say that I did this one, and well. I'm normally terrible at birthdays and never remember anyone's, and always scramble at the last minute. At the beginning of the year I wrote everyone's birthdays down in my calendar, and would refer to it at least weekly. I'd scan ahead to see if there were any upcoming birthdays, and plan accordingly. This is something I want to keep up, because it's always nice to feel a little extra special on your birthday :)
-less screen time, especially when kids are awakeI did ok-ish on this one. I will say I used to be on my nail instagram account all the time, and have cut that way back because it was a huge time-sucker. I'm still working on this one, but overall I'd say I have improved.
-eat less sugar and more fruit/veggiesThis was the hardest resolution for me, but the most important because my sugar consumption got way out of hand. I was eating an entire big bag of candy almost every single day. It really had developed into a binge-eating disorder of sorts.. From about May to Halloween I had little to no candy. I was incredibly impressed with myself. Halloween got me a little off track, and all these damn holidays have got me off the wagon.

that one time when George was wading in sugar..

-take action on improving recycling in the cityUmm... I googled some stuff about this. Cedar City just seems incredibly disorganized about recycling, and clearly doesn't care much about it. I should have done a lot more in this area. This will carry over into the next year. At least I stayed strong about recycling all year, even though it is incredible annoying to do so here.
-take action on getting fluoride in the waterI talked to a dentist about this and he was like "Yeah, I don't know why they don't have it here" etc etc. But then I was doing some research and I'm conflicted on this issue. Some research shows that fluoride in liquid form can be harmful and cause birth defects?? But in the solid form it's totally fine? I don't know... I need to do more research. In the meantime though, I'm just having my kids take their fluoride prescriptions and sort of getting over it.
And now... the BIG REVEAL (ha!) of my secret resolution. As some of you may remember, for 2013 my secret resolution was to be fierce. This year I almost wanted to keep the same secret resolution because I feel like it actually did a lot for me, but I took on a new one. It was to be more outgoing and easygoing. Since having two kids my anxiety has definitely increased, and I'd have to constantly remind myself that I need to be more easygoing and just roll with the punches sometimes. I also didn't have a ton of friends and would be pretty shy about meeting new people, and decided I needed to get over that. Sometimes you just need to push yourself so you can become more like you want to be. Fake it til you make it, right??Looking back, I think I was pretty successful. I've made new friends and been more outgoing in general. I have become much better at handling my anxiety, and can consequently do a lot more with my kids. While the mere thought of taking both of my kids to the store at the same time used to petrify me, I'm basically a pro now ;) Well...I can at least take both kids just about anywhere and be positive about the experience.
I'll be brainstorming about my resolutions for this next year, and will probably get around to posting them eventually. I still can't believe it's almost 2015, this year truly has flown by!! If you have any resolutions decided yet for the new year, feel free to tell me so I can steal your ideas ;)

Friday, December 19, 2014

We hope you all enjoy the lovely holiday season, and hopefully you will be surrounded by loved ones! I sent out some Christmas cards but I'm far too lazy to do a newsletter or anything like that to include with them. So here's a mini one, via blog. You get what you get ;)

This was the year of trips!
+In May we went to Disneyland and had so much fun that I basically want to live there. For anyone who isn't sure about bringing babies, DO IT! George was about 9 months old when we went, and loved every minute of it.
+We made several trips throughout the year to Arizona and northern Utah to see family, and we're really trying to take advantage of our close distance while we're still living here :)
+In August Josh and I went to New York to see the US Open for his birthday, and had an amazing trip. I want to move to New York, so if anyone knows of some jobs--hook us up!! We seriously loved the city, and I wish we had even longer to explore it while we were there!
+In September we made a spur of the moment decision to fly to Ohio and visit our bffs Emily and Dave! Since they ditched us to go to dental school (ugh, boring!) we've managed to see each other every year! It's a tradition we hope to keep very much alive over the years :) It was so fun to spend time with them and see Columbus

This year George turned 1 in September, and Henry turned 3 in December. I can't even believe I have a 3 year old. These boys are just growing up like crazy!! Thankfully they both love each other very much, and are always trying to get into mischief together. Since I've pushed myself to be more extroverted and make new friends, they have lots of little friends that they love to play with. Henry goes to a Mommy & Me dance class once a week, which he actually loves (even if the whole time he's running around or asking me to hold him). I think I want to get him into swimming lessons this next year, since he is such a water baby. Henry is currently obsessed with play dough and riding his new bike, and George is obsessed with books and animals.

Josh is still working as a wildlife biologist for a transmission line construction project. The current project is wrapping up, but he's staying on to oversee reclamation and revegetation. We don't really know what will happen after that's done, but hopefully there will be a new project that he can go work for. And of course Josh has been watching tennis all year, and finally got to see his favorite players this summer at the US Open (Serena! Federer! Venus!). We've also [obviously] been rooting for Alabama this year--ROLL TIDE!

I am loving being a stay-at-home mom, even if there are crazy days that I want to pull my hair out ;) My big hobby of course is nail art, and I'm considering doing it out of my house as sort of a side job this next year. We'll see how it goes. I did whole 30 this summer, which was really hard but helped me to curb my insane candy binge-eating habits. Unfortunately it also probably caused the lovely kidney stone I had to deal with a couple months later (oy vey). Hmm...what else...I'm still rocking the purple hair and channeling my inner unicorn. ;)

Sunday, December 7, 2014

I have been really upset about current events of late. Particularly concerning all these cases including excessive police force, and racism. Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Darrien Hunt, Trayvon Martin, and many many more. The case that really sent me over the edge was Eric Garner, who was put in a chokehold after resisting arrest and consequently died. The entire thing was caught on tape and can be found on youtube. It is appalling. The medical examiner ruled it death by homicide, yet when it was presented to a grand jury the officer responsible was not even indicted. WHAT?! When I learned about all of this I was absolutely sickened. It kept eating away at me and finally I just could not take it anymore. The America I believe in doesn't let anyone, including/especially police officers, kill people for no warranted reason and get away with it. Black or white or purple, all human beings are just that: human beings.

Before the Eric Garner case I felt like I could contribute by fighting for body cameras for all police officers, and I felt like that would be a positive change. But now?? After Eric Garner was killed ON TAPE and nothing was done about it, I was left with a hopeless feeling. Hopeless about the case. Hopeless about justice. Hopeless about racism. Hopeless about law enforcement. And hopeless about the future of our country. And I just felt like I personally couldn't do anything to help this cause that I feel so strongly about.

I made a comment to Josh how I wished I lived somewhere like New York so I could at least participate in a peaceful protest. He said "You don't have to live in New York to protest. You can live anywhere. You just go and you just protest." Which got me thinking... Social media can reach almost everyone these days. So I decided to do an online protest. I'm inviting everyone else who would like to make a change or a difference to join me. I think that even small things can make little ripple effects, so why not take a stand?!

#onlineprotest

I hope that through different investigations, at least some of these cases will finally result in justice. And hopefully through all the peaceful protests and different news stories, etc, something positive can come out of this. It is obvious that something needs to be done about this problem, and it's time for things to change. We cannot continue to let this happen. As a friend reminded me, Bob Dylan said: "How many times can a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see?"

Monday, December 1, 2014

Ever since my kids were born, I've been a fan of Freshly Picked. I remember I started following them on instagram, and would get excited when Susan would post a picture of someone famous with their kids wearing FP moccs. A female entrepreneur who built herself up starting with some scrap leather she bought at a yardsale? Yes, I can get behind a lady like that! Then when I saw she was appearing on one of our favorite shows, Shark Tank, I just knew this would be her tipping point. She signed a deal with Daymond, and watching from my living room I felt so happy for her. Is that creepy? Haha, whatever... Since then she has expanded her line to include carryalls, clothing, and even crib-sized moccasins (adorable!!).

cutest packaging ever!

My kids had a BLAST with the emoji stickers that came in the package. They were a huge hit. At one point Henry and George both teamed up against me and covered my back with emojis. I have to admire their teamwork ;)

Because I wanted a pair of moccs that would match almost anything George wears, I got a pair of Swimmin' With The Sharks in a size 4. They fit George perfectly and have a little bit of room to spare in the toe region. The elastic design at the opening makes it simple to put on his feet but also stay put, all while not cutting off the circulation to his fat little feet ;).

The leather is both soft and durable, and George has even walked around comfortably in the desert of Arizona in them. No stickers or "pokies" even made a dent or scratch on the sole!

Overall I've been very pleased and impressed by this pair of moccs! I will say I've owned a suede pair of FP moccs as well and while they are still very durable, the material developed a scratchy look rather quickly, and the original pattern is hardly visible. If you are considering buying a suede pair, I'd just save them to be used as a dressier pair of shoes (if you want them to stay in their original condition). These leather ones have been used for some serious playing, and I'm happy to report they still look pretty close to perfect!

I know for a fact that you will all be seeing a lot more of George in these fabulous shoes. Also, almost everything in her shop today is 20% off for Cyber Monday! Go check it out! Also, keep your eyes peeled on my Instagram account, because I will be hosting a giveaway for one lucky person to win moccs of their choosing!! Happy shopping friends, and I hope to see you tomorrow on IG :)